really old school mac wants upgrade.

well, i found a powerbook 520c mac, currently in working order. after doing much reading i managed to configure it and make it work correctly. i even hooked it up to my network and I'm currently typing this thread from it. yep, internet is usable. the thing is, it's a 25Mhz machine with 12 megs of ram. i want upgrades, apparently, it's a really easy to upgrade machine, being able to get to a G3's level. i'm not aiming that high, but if any of you have what i'd need to upgrade and are willing to part with these components for a decent price (working order of course...) i'd be very grateful. i can install OS 8.5 if i get the following upgrades:

Apple 100 MHz 603e cpu upgrade card. basically a snap in card replacing the other processor card. plug and play

32MB Apple PowerBook 520 Memory Upgrade (p/n PB520-32): of course, more ram is always good, and that's the most it can get without adding a pcmcia card.

also, if anyone knows what kind of cd drive would work with it, I'd love to hear about it.

i understand i'm asking for help in resurrecting a dinosaur, but it has some charm, and i'd love to bring the old girl in class one day, if only to see the look on the guy's face...you know those with the big state of the art macs that keep on rambling on how their machines are stronger and better than the rest?

 

You can get much better performance with a $100 second hand PC notebook .

 

Since you are looking to upgrade a low-end Mac, you should take a look at the site http://www.lowendmac.com. There, you may be able to find resources on how and where to get the parts needed for an upgrade.

 

You do know that speed is measured in Ghz on the modern laptops right?

jk/

 

of course i know, but this old thing actually survived and is still in perfect working order. did you know it can fetch up to 500 bucks still today?

 

500 ? LOL :laugh:.... that thing was released like 15 years ago.. Are you in the same decade as rest of us ?? Anyone who has the slightest idea of notebook performance wouldn't pay more than $100 for that.

 

I'm just purely impressed that a computer running at 15 MHz still works today.

My oldest computer was a Compaq desktop from 1996/1997 running Intel Pentium 233 MHz.

 

Where? At a museum? I'm not joking; I'm genuinely curious. Whoever buys or upgrades this sort of thing is obviously not doing it for the performance -- you can get something more than 100 times as powerful for a relatively small amount of money. This is more along the lines of collecting antiques, but I didn't know anyone was interested in old electronics.

 

Wouldn't be surprised its an antique. Hold on to it for another 15 years and it will be worth much more possibly.

 

well, there's a few mac sites i browsed for it and seems like mac users really like to keep their old machines going and going...and yeah, it is still worth that much, i have no clue why though. probably collectors. just google it, add value to the search for fun.
and i think there's just something in people, that makes them excited to maximize the power of an old computer. see what kind of software can make it functional to a degree that approaches modern machines. the hardware upgrades allowing it to gain a few precious megahertz and all. there's even a hack for it to use a wlan card!
I'd say bragging rights. it is something fun to do, i admit.

 

No, it is NOT worth that much. Maybe you are looking at some outdated ads or listings. Take a look at some eBay listings, you’ll see that people selling those in lots for around $15 a piece : 3 for $40 (tested to power up), 5 for $100

 

lol...no hd, no operating system...and no memory. you know, i removed those pieces from mine to test it out. it doesn't power up. those adds are lying. asked the 5 for 100 and he said none are in current working order and no power supply. try to find one working with an os just for fun. there's where you see the 500$ price tag. especially since os 7.6.1 still costs 99$.

 

That notebook is totally worthless, you might be able to get few bucks for it for it’s historical value. But no one in their right mind will buy something like that to do any kind of work. Maybe you can sell it for $500 to someone who is ignorant as you .

Sure you can advertise it for $500 (why not $1000 just for the fun of it), but who will buy it ?

Let me take another example : Take a look at this link. That is one of the first USB flash memory sticks sold commercially. it has a capacity of 8MB. That site was the only place I could find selling it on the internet, with a simple google search. Now tell me, does it worth $53 ?

 

you're right. it wasn't worth 500 bucks. i sold it for 400. too bad, the guy i sold it too wouldn't pay 500 because the battery wouldn't hold its charges anymore.

by the way, the add for that usb drive really says 4 pounds???
*edit*
i shouldn't have sold it. the guy i sold it to managed to do all the upgrades i wanted, slapped an external cdrom drive, a new battery and the wlan card hack and now I'm envious.